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Nevi’im and Ketuvim: Prophets and Writings with Targum and Tafsir (British Library, Mss. Or 2210-2211-2375)

by: Benayah ben Sa'adyah ben Zekharyah ben Margaz (scribe).

Publication date: 1500
Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0
Topics: Tanakh, Hebrew Bible, Prophets, Former Prophets, Latter Prophets, Writings, Targum, Targum Jonathan, Tafsir, Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic
Collection: folkscanomy_religion_bible; folkscanomy_religion; folkscanomy
Language: Hebrew
Item Size: 13.9G

This is a three-volume set of biblical codices. Its three consecutive volumes contain Nevi’im Rishonim (Former Prophets), Nevi’im Aḥaronim (Latter Prophets), and Ketuvim (Hagiographa or Writings). All three volumes were produced in Yemen by a single scribe, Benayah ben Sa‘adyah ben Zekharyah ben Margaz. Each book of the Prophets and Writings (the second and third divisions of the three-part Hebrew Bible or Tanakh) is presented in a single version, a double version or a triple version: Minimally there is vocalized Hebrew accompanied by masoretic notes, but in most cases the Hebrew text is interspersed, verse by verse, with vocalized Aramaic Targum and/or Judeo-Arabic Tafsir (by Sa‘adia Ga’on).

This three-volume set is important for its accuracy and remarkable in its clarity and beauty. Since it is also largely intact, it serves as the best representative of the Prophets and Writings with Targum and Tafsir according to the tradition of the Jews of Yemen. It is the masterpiece of its genre.

Contents:
Volume One (Former Prophets): Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Samuel (2 Samuel), Kings (2 Kings).

Volume Two (Latter Prophets): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Twelve Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, *Malachi).

Volume Three (Hagiographa): **Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra (Nehemiah), ***Chronicles (2 Chronicles [ends 2 Chronicles 34:29]). Chronicles is followed by appendices and a single leaf from Leviticus with Targum.

All of the books of the Prophets (Volume One and Volume Two) are double versions in which each verse is copied twice, once in Hebrew and once as Aramaic Targum (Targum Jonathan), with the exception of Isaiah which is a triple version (Hebrew, Targum, and Tafsir).

For the books of the Writings (Volume Three), some of them are triple versions that contain Targum and Tafsir in addition to the Hebrew (Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and Esther). Some of them are double versions with Hebrew and Tafsir (Psalms, Job, Proverbs and Daniel). The two last books have Hebrew alone (Ezra and Chronicles).

*The last three folios of Volume Two are damaged and a small amount of text is missing (parts of Malachi 3:4-24). The missing Hebrew text with Targum can be supplied via BL Or 1474.

**The initial folios of Volume Three are damaged and some pages between them are missing (which contained Ruth 1:5-2:4, 2:14-23). For a complete text of Ruth with Targum and Tafsir, see the published edition. For similar manuscript copy which is somewhat more intact (but also missing the beginning of Ruth) see here. For a clear and completely intact manuscript that contains Ruth with Tafsir (but not Targum), see here. For Ruth with Targum and Rashi (but without Tafsir) in a beautiful copy of the “Three Megillot” see here (the vocalization in the Targum is Tiberian) and here (with Babylonian vocalization in the Targum). For other sources of the missing text, see here.

***The last two folios of Chronicles are missing (which contained 2 Chronicles 34:29-36:23). The missing Hebrew text can be supplied via other manuscripts from Yemen, such as National Library of Israel Ms. Heb. 1452 (2)=4 by the same scribe, Cambridge Ms. Add. 1753, or British Library Ms. Or. 1476.

Source: British Library MS Or 2210 (Former Prophets); Or 2211 (Latter Prophets); Or 2375 (Writings). This item presents all three volumes sequentially, in order to facilitate browsing and study. Based on this dataset (Or 2210-2211) and this dataset (Or 2375); slight modifications were made in the filenames of some of the images so that all of the pages in each volume (including the covers and endpapers) appear in order from beginning to end. Catalogue items at the National Library of Israel: BL Or. 2210, BL Or. 2211, BL Or. 2375.

For each of the three volumes as an individual item, see: BL Or. 2210 (Former Prophets), BL Or. 2211 (Latter Prophets), BL Or. 2375 (Writings). For each biblical book as a smaller individual item, browse the full collection here, or use these direct links to the individual books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Twelve Prophets, Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.

For a clear and accurate published edition of Song of Songs, Ruth and Ecclesiastes with Targum and Tafsir according to the tradition of the communities of Israel in Yemen, see here.

For more information on this work and its importance, see Wikimedia Commons. Some information may also be found there about the Torah with Targum and Tafsir (which is not included in the present work).